


The Six Times Eren Saves Armin, and the One Time Armin Saves Him Or Jean is Really Bad at Flirting

by mellod89



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Armin in a dress, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Bullying, Jean being a dick, M/M, Massive amounts of fluff, like tons, one sided jean/armin if you squint, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-08
Updated: 2014-07-08
Packaged: 2018-02-08 00:08:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1919316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mellod89/pseuds/mellod89
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren and Armin's relationship told in seven vignettes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Six Times Eren Saves Armin, and the One Time Armin Saves Him Or Jean is Really Bad at Flirting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Remmy-AoT (Remembrance)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Remembrance/gifts).



> Hello All! This is a gift for the amazing Remmy whose birthday was Sunday. It also features a lot of firsts for me. First slash fic, first fic over 2,000 words, first fic in the SNK fandom. I also wrote this in under 3 days, so I'm giving my self a massive high five. Heed the tags. They're there for a reason, and if you see something that you think should be tagged, please let me know. Thanks to the supremely wonderful eremine for the beta.

1.

It all starts at the sandbox.

Usually when Eren’s mother takes Mikasa and him to the park, they immediately head for the swings because it’s Eren’s lifelong dream to one day swing so high that he can swing himself around the swing set bar thingy. This time, however, the swings are occupied, which is totally unfair in Eren’s opinion, but his mother reminds him to “Play nice and share with the other kids.” Their only options are the slide, Eren’s second favorite toy, the merry go round, which they are banned from after Mikasa lost a tooth after being flung from it, and the sandbox.

“Let’s play on the slide Mika!” He pleads, trying to drag her in that direction, but she isn’t budging. “Come on, Mika! The slide is open!”  He tries pulling her again with very little success, “Come on!”

But Mikasa is distracted by the tiny blond wearing a pink bow in her hair with matching pink flats in the sandbox. She’s currently surrounded by three slightly older boys, the tallest of which, who has a stupid haircut and looks vaguely like a horse, is pushing her head into the sand.

“Eren look.” She points to the sandbox. Eren takes off at a run with Mikasa not much farther behind him.

“Leave her alone!” The three boys look up, then proceed to laugh.

“What are you gonna do baby?” The tallest of the three laughs. “Are you gonna cry about it to your mommy?” The boys laugh and shove the blonds head into the sand again.

At that, Eren launches himself at the older boy, clings to his large frame, and bites his face.

“AHH! Get this freak off of me!” He yelled, but the other two are busy dodging Mikasa who had picked up a stick along the way and began beating them with it.

“Let’s get out of here!” The two boys dart off leaving their friend behind.

“Wait for me!” He tries to run, but the weight from Eren’s body drags him to the ground.

“Who’s crying for his mommy now?” Eren shrieks before taking another bite.

The bully chooses then  to employ the ‘stop, drop, and roll’ method of removal, but it’s only successful because Mikasa decides to give him mercy, dragging Eren off of him.

 “Stay away from me you freaks!” The bully calls as he runs off.

With the bullies gone, they’re free to check on the blond, who’s looking up at them in complete awe.

“Are you ok?” Mikasa murmurs, as she helps the sand covered child stand and dusts them off.

“Yeah,” the blond sniffles. “Thank you for rescuing me.”

“You’re welcome. I’m Eren and this is my friend Mikasa.”

“I’m Armin.”

“Is that a girl’s name?” Eren blurts out puzzled.

Armin blushes. “N-n-no,” he stammers, “I’m a boy.”   

“Oh. Ok. Wanna play on the slide?”

Armin tilts his head curiously, “You’re not gonna make fun of me for wearing girl clothes?”

“That’s silly. Why would I do that?”

“Because that’s what all the other kids do.” Armin looks down at the ground, trying to hide the tears that are beginning to form.

“Well, that makes them stupid.”

“Really?”

 “Yep.” Eren confirms. “Now, come on before the slide gets taken.” He holds out his hand.

Armin briefly pauses before taking it.

“Ok.” He looks at Eren and smiles for the first time.

2.

The very first sleep over is either the best or the worst time a child could ever have. For Armin, it is turning into a complete disaster. He’s forgotten Oscar the lion. Oscar is his favorite plush, and the only one that can protect him from monsters at night. He didn’t realize that he had forgotten him until it was bed time, and now there is no way he’ll be able to sleep. He begins to cry.

“Armin, honey, what’s wrong?” Carla kneels down to the boy’s level.

“I forgot Oscar!” He sniffles, bottom lip quivering.

“Who’s that?” Eren tilts his head and frowns.

“He’s my lion! I can’t sleep without him!  I need him to protect me from the monsters!” He begins to wail, “I wanna go home!”

“But you can’t go home!” Now Eren starts to cry.

“It’s ok, Armin.” She pats him on the shoulder, and then turns to Eren,“If Armin wants to go home, he can.”

“But he can’t! He hasn’t been here that long, and we were going to have waffles and bacon for breakfast! If he goes home, we can’t have them!”

“Eren, remember when you stayed at Grandma’s and you forgot Wolfie?”

He nods his head.

“Remember how hard it was to sleep without him?”

“Yeah,” he sniffles, “I could barely sleep.”

“Now think about how Armin feels without Oscar.”

Eren gasps and his eyes widen.

“That’s pretty scary, huh?”

Eren nods his head again.

“Do you think it would be fair for Armin to have to spend the night without him?”

“No.” His head and shoulders droop.

“Ok, then,” She turns back to Armin, “I’ll go call your mom.” Carla stands and leaves the room.

“I’m sorry.” Armin looks at his feet, afraid that his only friend will be mad at him.

“It’s ok.” Eren pouts not knowing what else to say. The silence grows between them, then out of nowhere, Eren gasps. “Burritos!” He shouts, and runs out of the room.

Armin stands there puzzled, wondering why his friend would want a snack at a time like this. Eren returns to the living room dragging a mound of pillows and blankets behind him. He drops them in front of the couch and leaves the room a second time, only to return with even more pillows and blankets.

“What are you doing?” Armin frowns.

“We’re going to make a blanket burrito pillow fort!”

“Why?”

“To help protect us from the monsters! See, when I was at Grandma’s and I forgot Wolfie, she said that the only other way to protect me from monsters was to build a fort out of blankets and pillows, then you have to wrap a blanket around you like a burrito then hide in the fort. That way, when the monsters come, they think you’re only blankets and they’ll leave us alone!”

Armin’s eyes widen. “That’s really smart!”

“Yeah! And I also brought Wolfie just in case. You can sleep with him tonight.” He holds out his wolf plush to Armin.

“Really? But who will protect you?”

“Don’t worry. Wolfie will protect both of us. We can share him.”

“Ok.” Armin ducks his head and blushes.

“Does this mean you’ll stay?” Eren looks at him, hope filling his eyes.

“Yes,” Armin says hesitantly, “but only if you’re sure that it will work.”

“I’m sure.”

“Then I’ll stay.”

Eren looses a loud “woop” then yells as he runs out of the room, “Mom, Armin’s staying! He changed his mind! Dad can you help us make burritos?” Before he completely leaves the room, he stops and turns back to Armin. “Come on! I need more help bringing the blankets.” Armin rushes after him.

Later that night, when Grisha checks on the boys, he finds them curled together in the center of their blanket burrito pillow fort with Wolfie snuggled between them.

3.

“Come on, Armin. Even Krista climbed the tree.”

Armin looks at his best friend, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

“He’s not going to do it. He’s a sissy!”

Eren glares at Jean,  “Shut it, Jean! Armin’s not a sissy. Right, Armin?”

“If Armin doesn’t want to climb the tree, he doesn’t have to.” Mikasa, ever the voice of reason, looks disapprovingly on.

“I can speak for myself, guys.” Armin fiddles with the zipper on his jacket.

“Well, are you going to do it or not, sissy?” Jean grins, Eren glares, and Mikasa rolls her eyes.

“I’m not a sissy.” Armin mumbles.

“Then prove it. You have to climb the tree as high as you can go, tie your ribbon onto that branch, then jump off of the lowest one.”

“Do I have to do that last part?” Armin’s eyes keep shifting from the tree to the ground.

“Yes,” Jean says smugly, “Like Eren said, even Krista did it, and she’s smaller than you, but I guess it’s ok if you don’t jump.”

“Really?” Armin perks up.

“Yeah, you don’t have to jump, as long as you don’t mind us calling you a sissy.” Jean laughs, and Eren tries to take a step towards him, but Mikasa holds him back.

Armin looks to the tree again, then puffs up his chest.

“I’ll do it,” he says and cheers erupt around him.

He marches towards the tree with the ribbon tied around his neck to keep it from falling, and he begins to climb.  He passes Connie’s ribbon, Krista’s ribbon, and Sasha’s ribbon. Soon, he’s standing on the branch where Eren placed his ribbon, but he can’t quite figure out how to get up to the next branch where Mikasa and Jean have both tied their ribbons making them the highest climbers. There’s a foothold, but the next branch up is still a good four inches out of reach. The only way he can even get close is if he jumps. He does and makes it, much to the surprise of his friends down below. Using the trunk of the tree to steady his feet, he pulls himself up on to branch.  Cheers of encouragement break out down below him as he plans out how he’s going to reach the next branch. He notices that if he can wedge his foot into the V where two seemingly sturdy branches intersect he can use it to lever himself up to the next branch. He takes a cautious step onto the V, and it holds. He sighs in relief as he continues onward. He grabs a hold of the branch slightly above his head, and places his full weight on his supporting foot.  Then the worst thing in that moment happens. The branches supporting his weight crack. The noise startles him and he slips, dropping to the ground.

“Armin!” Eren yells running to where the blond has fallen and drops to the ground beside him. “Armin, are you ok? Are you dead? Please don’t be dead. I’ve killed my best friend!” He clings to the body of the smaller boy, squeezing him in the process.

“Eren, he’s not dead,”  Mikasa tries to reason with him.

“I’ve killed him! I’m the worst friend ever!”

“Eren,” Armin groans, “Can’t breathe.”

“You’re alive! I didn’t kill you!” He lets go of his friend.

“I told you he wasn’t dead.”

 “Well, how was I supposed to know that?” He glares at Mikasa.

“He was still breathing.”

“Oh.” Eren blushes and turns back to Armin. “Are you ok?”

“I think so,” Armin mentally catalogues where things hurt, and determines that the most serious injury is his pride.

“Are you sure?” Krista looks at him brow furrowed.

“Yeah. Help me stand up.” Eren leaps to his feet and does as his friend commands.

“That was really cool! You went even higher than Jean and Mikasa. You totally win,” Connie exclaims.

“But I fell and didn’t get the chance to tie my ribbon.”

“Yeah, he didn’t complete the challenge!” Jean readily agrees, “There’s no proof that he actually got that high.”

“Yes there is! The branches cracked where he was standing. Plus, we were all witnesses,” Sasha supplies glaring at Jean.

“Yeah, so the only way no one would know is if someone lied.” Krista adds.

“You’re not a liar are you Jean?” Mikasa asks.

“N-no.” Jean turns away and crosses his arms.

“Then it’s settled. Armin isn’t a sissy and he wins tree climbing.” Eren grins, and then frowns as he notices that Armin’s arm is bleeding. “Armin, you are hurt! Look you’re bleeding.”

“I am?” He looks down to where Eren is pointing, and all at once the pain receptors in his arm begin firing.

“I’ll take you to my dad. He’s a doctor. He’ll know what to do. Get on my back.” Eren turns and motions for him to climb on.

“It’s ok. I can walk.”

“No! If you didn’t notice that you were bleeding, then who knows what else could be wrong with you. I’m giving you a piggy back ride and that’s final!” Eren stomps his foot to emphasize his point.

“Ok.”

Eren turns back around and crouches low enough for Armin to climb onto his back. Once he’s situated with his arms around Eren’s neck and legs hooked over his arms, Eren straightens and begins the short walk home from the park with his friends in tow.

“You know who the sissy is now?” Eren asks the group.

“No, who?” Armin questions.

“Jean.” Eren grins.

Jean glares.

Mikasa rolls her eyes.

Armin tightens his hold on Eren, and buries his face into the back of his neck, and smiles.

4.

For their first day of high school, Armin wants to look his best. He spent hours dragging his mother, Mrs. Jaeger, Mrs. Ackerman, Eren, and Mikasa around the mall when they went school shopping in his quest to find the perfect outfit. He found things he liked, but nothing really spoke to him as first day of high school material. That is until Mrs. Ackerman was getting Mikasa to try on skits and dresses. He was rifling through the racks of nearby clothes because he didn’t particularly like the selection of clothing they had for the boys in this store, when Mikasa steps out of the dressing room wearing a pale blue and white polka dotted dress with a large white flower on the left shoulder. It has a double layered skirt that was slightly ruffled at the bottom, white belt with a bow in the middle, and capped sleeves.

“I hate it.” Mikasa said, breaking Armin of his reverie, “You know I don’t like polka dots.”

“But do you like the style of it? It fits nice.” Her mother walks up to her, “Turn so I can see the back.” Mikasa complies with the order and the slight movement makes the skirt does the poof out circlely thing that girls are so fond of. Armin’s heart skips a beat.

“Yeah, I just wish it didn’t have polka dots.”

“Ok then. I’ll try to find something similar. Next one.”

“Can I try it on?” Armin asks fidgeting.

“Sure. Just let me take it off.” Mikasa says returning to the dressing room. Not long after she disappears behind the dressing room door, she returns wearing another dress, holding out the one she previously wore to the blond.

“Now this one I like. Here, Armin.”

“Thanks,” he says taking the dress reverently. “Mom can I try it on?”

“Yep, let’s just find you a dressing room.” She glances around looking for a staff member. “Excuse me, miss,” she says when she spots someone, “my son needs to try something on. Where can he do that?”

“Men’s dressing rooms are on the opposite side of the store. If you go back near the escalator and make a right, then follow that path straight down, and you’ll run right into them.”

“Thank you.” She turns to look at Armin. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yes.” He’s all but dancing in place.

“We’ll be back in a bit, and we’ll check on Eren while we’re at it.”     

 As soon as they make it to the dressing rooms, Armin darts into the first empty stall. He tears out of his clothes as fast as possible, unzips the dress, and slips it on. He attempts to zip himself up, but he can’t quite reach it.

“Mom, can you help me zip this up?”

“Sure hun, come on out.”

He steps out of the dressing room, and turns his back to her. She zips him up and he turns to look at the mirror, breathless. He fiddles with the belt to get it just right and brushes his hands down the skirt to smooth out the invisible wrinkles.

“Wow,” Armin turns to see Eren staring at him and he reddens, “You look really good. It suits you.” Eren’s cheeks turn rosy.

“Thanks,” he says not meeting his eyes.

“Do you like it honey?”  His mom questions him.

“Yes! Can we buy it?’

“Sure,” she laughs, “as soon as everyone else is ready to go.”

“Ok. I want to wear this on the first day of school.”

“Are you sure, Armin?” His mother asked voice filled with concern. “I just don’t want you to get hurt, honey.”

“Yes.” Armin looks down at his feet. “The first day of high school is important and I want to look my best.”

“Don’t worry Mrs. Arlert. Armin and I have most of our classes together, so I’ll be there to protect him.” Eren would never let anyone hurt Armin if he could help it.

“Then we’ll need to find some shoes and accessories to go with.” Armin positively beams.

*

On the fateful morning on his first day, Eren, Armin, and Mikasa enter the doors of Trost High. For a while no one gives Armin any strange looks, but that all changes when they go find their lockers. Directly across from Armin’s locker is Jean, bane of Eren’s existence. Eren keeps his fingers crossed that Jean won’t notice them, but it’s all for naught as he turns and spots them at the exact moment that they turn to leave.

“Armin? Is that you? Why are you wearing a dress? Aren’t you a boy?” He exclaims loudly puzzled. Soon everyone in the vicinity is staring at the strange boy wearing a blue dress.

“Look at that freak.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“Doesn’t he know the difference between a boy and a girl?”

“He could be both.”

“We should call it Hermie the Hermaphrodite!”

The voices grow louder, as Armin shrinks into himself. His mother was right. This happens every single time he’s worn any kind of feminine clothing. They point, stare, and tease him, but he can’t help it if he likes girl’s clothes just as much as he likes boy’s clothes. Sometimes he just wants to feel pretty, and if it that means he wants to wear a dress, he’ll wear a dress. Why does it have to be big deal?

“Thanks a lot Jean. You and your backwards world view can suck it. Armin can wear whatever the hell he wants. _I_ think he looks very nice. You should apologize.”

“But I didn’t do anything! I just asked a question!”

“You hurt his feelings, and you call him your friend? You don’t deserve his friendship. Come on Armin. All these people suck. We don’t need them. Let’s find our first class.” Eren grabs his hand and begins dragging his flustered friend along and leaving a very flustered and puzzled Jean behind them. “I really do think you look pretty though, and who cares what everyone else thinks? All that matters is if you like what you’re wearing.”

“Thanks, Eren,” Armin smiles wanly.

“For what?”

“For saying what you did.”

“You’re my best friend. I’d do anything for you.” This makes Armin’s smile brighten. “In fact, I think tomorrow I’ll wear a dress!” Armin stops walking.

“You don’t have to.” Armin didn’t want to cause his best friend any more trouble.

“No! It’ll be great. I borrow a dress from someone, and I’ll wear it tomorrow! You can even help me style it and everything!”

“Who do you know that will have a dress that will fit you?”

“I can ask Mikasa or Sasha. I’m sure they’ll have something.”

“I’m not going to be able to change your mind am I?”

“Nope.”

Eren shows up the next day at school wearing a bright pink dress, and Armin wears the biggest grin in the history of Armin grins.

5.

Eren growls for about the millionth time. Mikasa would be worried except they’re in the middle of class and supposed to be working on their lab assignment, so it’s not like Eren could actually try something. Eren growls again, and she sighs.

“Eren stop it. You’re supposed to be helping me.”

“I can’t help it! Horse face is way too close to him.”

“Eren they’re lab partners.”

“But he keeps touching him inappropriately!” He looks back over to Armin and Jean’s station. “Look! He totally just touched his nipple!”

“Eren-”

“NIPPLE!”

“Mr. Jaeger, are you having a problem dissecting your frog?”

“No, Ms. Zoe.” Eren blushes.

“Then I expect you to get back to work.”

“I told you, you should be helping me.” Mikasa mummers once their teacher moves on to check on someone else’s station.

“How can I when Horse Face is breathing on him?”

“Eren, you’re sounding crazy. Besides, it’s impossible to not breathe on the person you’re standing next to. He’d die.” Mikasa tries to explain.

“He should die.” Eren glowers.

“Eren!”

“What?”

“You don’t say things like that.”

“But-”

“No buts. It was your choice to be my lab partner. If you wanted to be Armin’s partner, you should have chosen him. You have no room to complain.  Now help me dissect this frog.”  She hands him the scalpel, and he proceeds to glare at the frog and stab it viciously.

“Eren! That’s our grade.” Mikasa snatches the scalpel back. “Ms. Zoe, I think we need a new frog. Eren sorta… killed ours.”

Jean laughs.

“How can you kill something that’s already dead Jaeger?” The classroom laughs, and Eren sinks down into his seat.

“Shut up, Horse Face. At least I’m not a sissy.”

“Take that back,” Jean growls as he takes a step towards Eren’s station.  

“Boys cool it, and everyone get back to work.”  The room returns to silence. Armin glares at Eren, and then turns back to his frog. Jean grins smugly then wraps his arm around Armin’s waist.

“That’s it Horse Face!” And before anyone can do anything to stop it, Eren launches himself at Jean and bites his face.

“Eren, no!” Armin shouts.

“Get off me freak!” Jean shoves Eren back, but Eren keeps coming at him with his teeth, so he punches him in the face, and Eren goes down.

“Jean, stop it,” but Jean is deaf to Armin’s pleas and continues his assault.

Somehow Eren trips Jean, and they both end up rolling around the floor throwing punches. Armin moves to try to separate them, but Mikasa holds him back for fear of a stray punch hitting him. It wasn’t necessary though because seconds later Ms. Zoe and Mr. Smith, from the math class across the hall, are pulling them apart.

“That’s it. Both of you are going to the Principal’s office. Armin, Mikasa, seeing as how your lab partners have disrupted class can you escort them?”

“Yes, ma’am,” they sigh resignedly.

“Now, everyone else get back to work.” The group of four gathers their belongings and head to the office.

*

“Sorry, Armin.” Eren mumbles.

“You should be! You know the labs are 30% of our grade. Now, we have to make it up, and you know Ms.  Zoe doesn’t allow it! Maybe I can convince her to at least grade what we’ve filled out. It’s not much, but it’s better than a flat out zero.”

Eren feels even worse now. He knows how important Armin’s grades are to him. “I’m really sorry.”

“Why did you do it anyway? I know you and Jean don’t like each other, but do you have to constantly fight?”

“He tried to make you eat sand!”

“Eren, we were six. Get over it. I have.” Armin rolls his eyes.

“But he keeps doing things to you.”

“Like what?” Armin frowns, puzzled.

“Like he called you sissy, and he made fun of you when decided you wanted to wear that dress to school. He keeps making fun of you, but you want to hang out with him, and it just makes me so angry. Oh and today in class, he kept touching you like you were his property, and he gave me this smug look and all I wanted to do was destroy his horse face. No one should touch you like that without your permission.” He finishes in a huff. Armin pauses to look at him, but Eren keeps walking not noticing that Armin had stopped.

“Armin, why’d you stop? Mikasa and Horse Face are almost there. We need to catch up.”

“Are you jealous of Jean?”

Eren in a fit of shock hurriedly says “no”, but Armin keeps pressing him for an answer.

“I’m mean, I wouldn’t mind if you were jealous.” He blushes, refusing to meet Eren’s eyes.

“Really?” Eren’s eyes widen.

“Yeah. I just don’t like it when you fight with Jean.”

“Oh, ok.” Eren bows his head. “So, if I admitted that I was jealous, not that I am, but if I did, could I um...couldikissyou?” He mutters, ducks his head further into his chest, ears turning bright read.

“What did you say?” Armin’s eyes widen, not believing what his ears. “I didn’t hear you, could you speak up?”

Eren clears his throat and looks him in the eyes.

“I said, can I kiss you?” If Eren could get any redder he’d become a tomato.  

“Are you saying you’re jealous?” Armin nearly whispers.

“Yes.” Eren says even softer. “So, can I?”

“Yes.” Armin says without any hesitation. They both lean in, Armin on his tip toes and Eren grasping his face.  Their lips lightly brush, breath mingling.

“Armin?”

“Yeah?”

“I really like you.”

“I like you too.”

“Kiss me again?”

Armin responds by leaning in and pressing his soft lips to Eren’s chapped ones.

“Eren, Armin! Come on! We have to go.” Mikasa yells after them.

They break apart, blushing furiously, and rush to meet up with them. Jean glowers. Mikasa smiles minutely and begins walking towards the office once again. As they begin to pass Jean, Eren wraps his arm around Armin’s waist, and smiles at him smugly.

6.

Armin was sick, and not your average ‘I just have a few sniffles’ sick. Armin felt like he was five steps from deaths door only he couldn’t quite make it that far because if he tried to move he’d fall over due to lack of feeling everywhere.

“You don’t have to stay over. AHHCHOO!” Armin sneezes for the thousandth time that hour.

“You’re parents are out of town; if I don’t stay, who will look after you?” Eren sits down on the edge of Armin’s bed.

“I’ll be fine.” Armin argues.

“Armin, you can barely make it to your bathroom, and it’s like three steps from your bed. Besides, I’ll feel like a bad boyfriend if I don’t. Now when was the last time you took you’re temperature?”

“An hour ago.” Armin sniffles. “Can you get me some more tissues?”

“Sure, in the mean time we should check it again. Do you remember what it was before?”

“Yeah. It was 102. 5.”

“That’s way too high. When did you last take something?”

“Around the time I took my temperature.”

“So you can’t take anything yet.” Eren picks up the thermometer from Armin’s beside table. “Open wide,” he pops it into Armin’s mouth.  “Do you want anything else while I get some more tissues?”

Armin stares at him blankly.

“Right, you can’t exactly talk. Be right back!”

Armin rolls his eyes. For someone whose father is a doctor, Eren knows very little about taking care of a sick person. Granted, he’s never done it before, so Armin gives him a little leeway. Mostly Armin’s glad that he has someone to sit with him. He was afraid that he’d have to spend the whole weekend by himself, but once Eren found out that he wasn’t up to going out because he was feeling miserable, he immediately came over. He was very sweet like that.

“Here are you’re tissues.” He sets the box down. “Has it beeped yet?”

Armin shakes his head in the negative.

“Ok. Well, I went down stairs and put the kettle on cause your throat sounds gross. Also, I figured that you might be hungry, so I grabbed some cans of soup.  I couldn’t remember if you’re allowed to eat if you have a fever, but I figured that you can at least have some broth and crackers. Which one do you want? There’s tomato, beef stew, or chicken noodle.”

Armin picks the chicken noodle.

“Nice choice. Oh, before I forget, think about which tea you want.” Eren leaves the room just as the thermometer decides to beep. Eren turns around and walks back into the room as Armin takes it out of his mouth, and looks at the digital display.

“What does it say?”

“102.0.”

“Good it’s gone down. Know what tea you want?”

“Yeah. Can you bring me a cup of cinnamon orange spice?”

“Yep! Do want a cough drop in it?”

“Please.” His boyfriend knew him so well.

“Ok. I’ll be right back,” and with that Eren finally leaves the room.

Armin closes his eyes to block out what little light is creeping in through his blinds. His head is pounding, and all he really wants to do is curl up and die, but then he’d be without Eren and that would be even worse. He decides that an even better plan would be for the flu to transplant itself to someone else’s body. Now that would be perfect.

*

Armin startles awake when he feels his bed dip.

“Hey sleepy head. I come bearing sustenance.” Eren sets a tray with a bowl of soup and mug full of tea on his lap as he tries to sit up. “Here let me fluff your pillows.” Eren moves behind him to rearrange the mountain of cushions. “Comfy?” He says once he’s finished.

“Yep. How long was I asleep?”

“Not long.” In all honesty, Eren returned back to his room about five minutes after he left, and Armin was out like a light. He didn’t have the heart to wake him then, so he tucked him into his blankets and returned the tray back to the kitchen.

“Eren,” Armin says pointedly.

“Ok, so you slept for like an hour. You just looked so peaceful. I couldn’t wake you then, but you need to eat something now.”

“Ok.” He smiles, and then coughs.

“Are you ok? Here drink some tea.” He hands him the mug, which Armin takes gratefully, and takes a sip before promptly spitting it back out.

“What’s wrong? Did I grab the wrong tea?”

“Too hot!”

“Oh no, I’ll go get some ice.” He dashes out of the room and returns with a cup full of ice. “Here, put a few cubes into your tea and soup too. That might be too hot too.”

Armin does as he says and puts some cubes into his tea and soup. He lets them begin to melt, before he gives his tea a stir and takes a sip.

“Perfect.” He sighs into his mug. “Have I ever told you you’re the best boyfriend ever?”

“Not today you haven’t.” He grins.

“We’ll you’re the best boyfriend ever.” He smiles, and then picks up his spoon to have a bit of the broth from his soup. He takes a sip, but his face falls.

“What’s wrong now? Is it gross?”

“No. It tastes good. I think I put too much ice in it and now it’s too cold.”

“Oops. Sorry. I’ll go warm it up for you, and maybe we can watch a movie or something when I get back.”

“That sounds nice.”

“Don’t go anywhere.” Eren says as he makes his way out of the room.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Armin smiles. Eren may not be the best at taking care of people, but Armin didn’t care because Eren was perfect just the way he was.

 7.

Why Armin decided to drag him to this party, Eren would never know. Sure going to parties and socializing was all a part of the college experience, but Eren would rather spend the night cuddling and watching movies than spend it watching people puke over balconies. It was loud, there were too many people, and if someone grabbed his ass one more time he was going to explode and not in a good way. He hated these kinds of parties, but he usually went because Armin could talk him into doing nearly anything, and it’s really hard to say no to his puppy eyes of doom. If he had known though, that Armin was going to abandon him the minute they walked into the door, Eren would have just stayed in their dorm room. He scanned the crowd again looking for his wayward boyfriend who said he’d be right back, he just had to say hi to someone really quick, but he had no more luck finding him than he did five minutes ago. He checked his cell to see if he had responded to his text, but nothing.

“You look really board,” A tall, muscular blond saunters up to him.

“Why do you say that?”

“Well, you haven’t talked to anyone, you don’t have a drink, and you keep checking your phone every 30 seconds.”

“That obvious?”

“Yeah, but it’s ok. These parties really aren’t my thing either, but I let my roommates throw them from time to time. Name’s Reiner. So who dragged you here?”

“Eren, and that would be my boyfriend.”

“And he just abandoned you?” Reiner frowns.

“Yeah, but it’s ok. I promised him I’d come and be social.”

“Well then you’d better fulfill the promise. Let me get you a drink.”

“Sure.” Eren follows Reiner into the kitchen where there seems to be even more people and even more noise. He scans the crowd to see if there are any signs of his boyfriend, but again he’s nowhere to be found. He turns back around to see Reiner coming towards him with two red cups in hand.

“Here you are.” He hands him the cup. “Why don’t we go somewhere quieter?” He leads him through the house to the back door and onto the porch. “So you a freshman?”

“Yeah,” he takes a sip of his drink and grimaces at the flavor then takes another to be polite. “You?”

“Junior. So how do you like things so far?”

“Eh. It’s ok. School is school ya know?”

 “Yeah. What makes it fun is what you choose to do outside of classes.”

“Like go to parties?”

“Like go to parties.” Reiner smiles. “You don’t like your drink.” He states.

“I like it!” Eren tries and fails to mask his distaste.

“It’s ok if you don’t. It’s not for everyone.”

“No, I really do see?” Eren tilts his head back and proceeds to drain the cup. “There. Empty.” He shows Reiner the empty cup and smiles.

“Well, if you like it that much, I’ll just have to get you another one. Be right back.” He leaves Eren on the porch, and heads back into the noisy house.

Eren pulls out his phone to see that Armin still hasn’t responded, so he texts him again.

_Where r u? I’m outside in back. Call me._

He presses send, and waits for a response. He leans against the railing looking out across the yard watching as people behave like idiots. Why people go to parties to get black out drunk he’ll never know. He turns around quickly when he hears the back door open again, and stumbles into Reiner’s arms.

“Whoa there. You ok?”

“Yeah. Just a little clumsy.” He laughs it off, and tries to take a step away from Reiner, but stumbles again.

“Looks like you can’t handle you’re alcohol. Maybe you should lie down for a bit?”

“That sounds nice,” then his world goes black.

*

When he comes to, he’s back in his dorm room. His head feels like someone was using it as a drum set and he feels like an elephant sat on his body. He rolls over to find Armin sitting on the floor, head resting on the bed. _Why is he on the floor?_ He sits up, realizes that was the worst decision he could have ever made, and flops back onto the bed with a groan.

“Somebody kill me,” he moans.

“I probably should.” He turns head to see Armin waking up and yawning.

“What happened last night? How did I end up here, and why do I feel so bad?”

“Here drink this and take this.” Armin hands him a bottle of water and some aspirin. “To answer your first question, you were drugged.”

“What?! But how?”

“That guy you were talking to slipped you something. How could you be so stupid to take a drink from someone you don’t know? We’ve talked about this, hell they even talked about it at orientation! If it wasn’t for Jean, who knows what would have happened to you.”

“Wait, Jean was there?”

“He was the one that told me. We were talking when he saw the guy dragging you off to some bedroom to do god knows what. I tore off after you. The guy tried to play it off like you had too much to drink, but I know you and you hate ridiculously drunk people, so there was no way you drank that much. I was so furious kicked the guy in the balls.”

“You kicked him?” Eren’s eyes widened. His tiny boyfriend kicked some stranger that was nearly twice his weight to save him?

“Yeah,” he blushes. “Jean had to help me get you here because you weigh a ton.”

“My hero,” Eren smiles.

“Never do that to me again. I was so worried. I was up half the night researching the after effects of date rape drugs.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s not your fault. It was that douche bag’s. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I was just so scared that something worse could have happened. Forgive me?”

“Always. Why are you on the floor?”

“I kept getting up to check on you, and I must have dosed off.” He says feeling sheepish.

“I’m the worst boyfriend ever.”

“No, you’re not. I am for leaving you alone at the party.”

“You know how you can make it up to me?”

“How?”

“Get off the floor, give me some cuddles, and never leave me alone a party again.”

“Done. Scoot over,” Armin crawls off the floor and onto the bed, laying on his side facing his boyfriend, snuggling into his chest. 

“Can we go back to sleep now?” Eren asks. “My head feels like poop.”

“Ok.” Armin snickers, and kisses his cheek. “My little poop head.” But Eren doesn’t respond. He looks up to see that’s he’s already passed out, and he snorts. Only Eren could fall back to sleep that easily after a potentially dangerous situation, but he wouldn’t change him either way. He closes his eyes and dreams of two little boys playing in a sandbox protecting each other from horse faced boys and blond tanks.  

**Author's Note:**

> melloadams.tumblr.com


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